Hanmer Arms, nr Whitchurch - Fighting fit

Dec 7 2007 By Michael Arnold,

There is an old saying in the boxing world, that they never come back!

That's not surprising for boxers, for the years remove that deadly extra something that makes the champion, and those fighters who tried again, usually under pressure from the tax man, always proved the point.

But what applies to athletes does not affect institutions, so that nations and regiments, football teams and hotels, can always achieve a revival if the will is there.

To demonstrate the point we paid a call at the delightful Hanmer Arms, tucked away at the corner of Cheshire, Shropshire, and Wales, where the ancient church and village face a wide lake, and the same local family has lived on their manor for many centuries, sharing the name of the settlement.

I used to visit the Hanmer Arms regularly for a decade or more when it was run by the successful Hope family, now equally effective at the Nag's Head at Haughton, near Nantwich, and in those days, it was the centre of its region, as a good pub should be, expanding steadily and attracting growing patronage.

If you went for lunch, you would find a full car park, with gatherings of farmers upstairs learning about silage, parties of salesmen working out how to sell things to the said farmers, not to mention the crowd from the beagles or the hunt, a wedding or a funeral, all enjoying the food and the beer.

But the Hopes moved on, and a less successful administration took over, and managed not only to lose most of the clientele, including me, but featured not once but twice on Channel Four's Hotel Inspector programme, the first time to point out what was going wrong, and the second to dance on the grave of a disastrous venture.

But there is a happy ending, and our visit on a Thursday lunchtime found that the road back was very well under way.

Quite properly described on the road signs as 'The New Hanmer Arms' the old pub has managed the very difficult trick of restoring the traditional atmosphere, and adding a great deal of modern expertise, so that we arrived to be greeted at once by an efficient young man who found a table by the winter fire, and produced menus and food with perfect aplomb, confident without being pushy, and showing a considerable knowledge of wine and how to serve it.

The new team in control of Hanmer Arms are Geoff and Gill Leigh-Ford and their manager Sarah Davies, and they bring a world of experience to restore a place that well deserves it.

We noticed a good lunch menu at £6.95 for two courses, with a carvery which runs at £7.95 until 7pm when the extra quid goes on, and I recall that in the original regime, this was always a popular hit, but was one of the withdrawals that was such a feature of the difficult period.

Anything the customers fancy, can't be good for them!

But it's back, and although we didn't sample it, the place was full of thoughtful looking people who had come miles to enjoy a ramble through the selection.

After due thought and much discussion, I opted for calamari on a bed of noodles as a starter, while Sue went for the carrot and coriander soup.

Soup is a good test of quality, and she decided that it was hot, nourishing, and just right, possibly just a shade light on coriander.

My squid, at £5.95 was subtle and tasty, and just right for quantity, so that I was in the right mood to move on to medallions of pork supported by potatoes dauphinois, a difficult dish to do properly, but spot on in this case.

Sue tried the lamb shank in a rich gravy on a bed of mash with a selection of the right vegetables between us, all this was lit up by a bottle of Chilean Carmen Carmenere, a well rounded red at £13 50, served with style and knowledge by the young man from Poland who did a great deal to make the whole outing a great success.

Another good point to niggle about can be the desserts, which often show a choice of items bought from a passing truck, but none of that at the Hanmer Arms!

I enjoyed an 'Eton Mess‘, a mixture of cream, strawberries and blueberries which the great school has given to the world, in addition to a wall game no one else understands, and the leader of the opposition.

Coffee to conclude rounded off a memorable lunch at a place which has shown that you can always come back!

FACTFILE

Location: The Hanmer Arms, near Whitchurch Lunch from noon, and evening meals from 6pm until 9pm. Tel: 01948 830532. Best Thing: Splendid atmosphere and service, and first class food. Would suit: Anyone with any sense! Worst thing: I'll think of something, but give me time. Bill: Two lavish lunches with bottle of wine and coffee, cost £62 50.